Chapter 128 Ninefold Purgatory

For Lovecraft and Dante, maintaining this turn-based combat system is probably the best option given the local architecture and terrain.

However, neither Lovecraft nor Dante would choose this kind of warfare.

After all, for the two of them, "causing destruction" is a very natural thing. So they don't avoid using their abilities like ordinary people do, for reasons like "it will destroy a lot of things".

After another round of exchanges, Lovecraft suddenly stopped and stood there in a daze. As a result, Dante, who was distracted, did not notice and habitually attacked Lovecraft again.

Caught off guard, Lovecraft was struck squarely in the face by Dante. The impact knocked Lovecraft's head to the side, and his neck twisted several times with the force of the blow.

Dante, realizing what he had done only after feeling the texture, withdrew his hand: "Ah, sorry."

Although his neck was twisted at an angle that would be absolutely fatal for an ordinary person, Lovecraft was unharmed. When he raised his hand to twist his neck back, he was still able to talk to Dante normally: "No, it's my problem."

"That's good." Dante nodded. "Is it time for the fight to officially begin?"

"Well, because I'm so bored and sleepy, I need to finish work quickly and go back to sleep..." Lovecraft muttered, his figure beginning to distort. "So, please speed things up a bit."

Dante looked up, his face showing exhaustion and a small crack: "Ah, that's what I think too."

"Because right now, it's really boring."

The moment the two reached a consensus, change began. It seemed as if even the composition of the air had changed, and the previously relaxed environment suddenly transformed.

Lovecraft's body began to expand, and it no longer consciously imitated the human body. Instead, it revealed its entire essence within the starry sky.

Thus, pure "horror" descended.

It was an indescribably colossal entity, every contour of its body composed of twisted lines that defied even Euclidean geometry; the lines were its body, and the holes were like pupils. It was like a monstrous mass of lurking terror. Without a strong will, one might not even be able to look directly at it.

Because His body defies logic, and every line of His body is beyond the description of human language, Lovecraft was unable to use any human language to depict His form.

Just as no one can name an undiscovered color, Lovecraft at this moment is already "indescribable," beyond the reach of language and description by any human being.

However, Dante, now facing Lovecraft directly, could not be categorized as an "ordinary human." Therefore, he could calmly look up at Lovecraft's now enormous figure compared to himself, uttering a meaningless exclamation: "Ah..."

"It looks huge, it seems difficult to handle."

Lovecraft lashed out at Dante, who was standing still. But Dante neither dodged nor flinched, and the burning effects of the "Divine Comedy" gradually appeared on his body.

"Then... I'll give it a little more effort."

As Dante muttered to himself, he was lashed out by Lovecraft's tentacle. The tentacle that made direct contact with Dante showed obvious burn marks, but they quickly healed.

But Ding Fei remained suspended in mid-air, his expression as usual, with a faint sense of boredom.

Dante's figure began to show tiny cracks all over his body as if he were being burned, and it was during this process that the ashes of "Divine Comedy" began to surround him.

As the ashes multiplied, they began to form mist-like clumps in the air. Dante's body gradually turned into wisps of ash, mingling with the mist.

The mist "descended" to the ground and began to swirl like breathing. The once flat ground gradually turned into ashes under the swirling mist of embers. Then, these embers drifted further away under the centrifugal force of the rotation, igniting more matter and stirring up even more embers.

The fog centered on Dante continued to expand and become enormous. The originally clump of fog gradually took on a specific shape as it spun seemingly endlessly—like two cones with their bases almost touching, but upon closer inspection, each one appeared to be divided into nine independent layers.

Dante's body was almost half reduced to ashes, and a crack formed a symbol on his forehead. He floated in the space between the two vertebrae, indifferently watching as the two "people," now swollen to countless times their original size, stared at each other for a moment before beginning their battle.

Countless indescribable tentacles attacked the double-rotating mountain, most of them being ignited by the embers along their path. However, the burned parts regrew in the blink of an eye, striking back at the relentless mountain.

The twin mountains, representing hell and purgatory, rotated in opposite directions, and more embers were scattered outwards from them, igniting everything that came into contact with them, including Lovecraft, who was now completely alienated.

The two sides battling at this moment have long transcended the definition of "human." They are like two raging natural disasters, rampaging through this place.

Goethe and Fitzgerald had ceased their trading battle at some point and retreated far away from the area affected by Dante and Lovecraft. The two could only watch this battlefield, which even those with supernatural abilities could not set foot on, in silence for a long time.

Even with the current level of human strength, we can only resort to prediction and avoidance when faced with natural disasters, because we are powerless to resist them.

Facing an existence that possesses the power of natural disasters yet also has a consciousness similar to that of humans, it is truly difficult to feel at ease.

Goethe watched Dante grow ever larger as he ignited the surroundings, and murmured to himself, "Does the 'New Testament' possess at least the power to overcome even 'natural disasters'...?"

—On the white whale during Lovecraft and Dante's transformation—

"Oh, Mr. Lovecraft has transformed! No matter how many times I see him, he's incredibly intimidating."

"Yeah, I feel my body stiffen involuntarily... Wait, the one over there has transformed too!?"

"No way, has this ability become so common? Also, that thing that looks like ash floating out looks ominous. Can the beluga whale withstand it?"

"But this distance should be fine? Wait, uh, it seems to be spreading?"

So, can it withstand it?

"Obviously not! Quick! Take emergency evasive action!"